Local migration in response to population pressure is part of the history of northeast Ghana. Colonialism drastically changed the pattern of migration to one of long-distance movement from northeast to southern Ghana. A dominant colonial strategy was to break up self-sufficient economies in order to stimulate the temporary migration of labour to work in commercial agriculture, mining and public works in the south. When Ghana gained its political independance from Britain this new pattern of migration had become firmly established. Data from the Kusasi village of Zorse, Bawku District, collected between October 1976 and March 1978, show that migration at any one time takes about 50 percent of working-age males and 15 percent of working-age females to southern Ghana for periods of a year or more. Significantly increased dependency ratios mean that as a result of this migration each four remaining working-age adults must support themselves plus four dependants, instead of supporting only three dependants, as would be the case without migration. Statements by Zorse residents, evidence of chronic undernutrition, a long-term decrease in land productivity due to erosion and lack of organic matter, and serious labour shortages during periods of critical farm activity, suggest that the net effect of migration on Zorse is negative. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. also in French.
